It's hard to believe that it's already been six weeks since our summer holidays began; but then, on the other hand, thinking of all the traveling I did, the places I saw, the people I spent time with, the books I read, the beautiful memories I made, well, then it's not surprising that we are about to return to school. It's just that time has flown by, once again... I hope your summer was unbelievably good, and I can’t wait to hear all about it when we see each other again next week. Enjoy this last full week of holidays.

Here are a few ideas on what you might enjoy doing until school reopens:

Organize an end-of-summer brunch, tea or dinner during which the whole family can share their favorite summer memories.

Create a summer / holiday collage including people you met, places you visited, special foods you ate, activities and highlights, books you read...​Chat with your family about the new school year: what are you looking forward to?

Get in some more reading time!

As you start thinking about the new school year, you might enjoy reading some books about school and returning to school.

Picture books about school/returning to school

Schools First Day of School(Christian Robinson)

How to Get Your Teacher Ready(Jean Reagan)

My New Teacher and Me(Al Yankovic)

If You Take a Mouse to School(Laura Numeroff)

Dear Teacher(Amy Husband)

This School Year Will be the Best(Kay Winter)

​Back to School Rules(Laurie B. Friedman)

Chapter books and middle grade novels about school/returning to school

Many students enjoyed using The Space during this past school year, designing, constructing and creating under the guidance of Mr. Bruce. How about getting into tinkering and constructing this week with whatever resources and materials you currently have available? Maybe you even have the opportunity to do some building and constructing outside, at the beach, in a backyard or forest. Afterwards, you could write, draw or sketch about what you made. I would love to see it after the summer.

And here are, as always, a few books you might enjoy reading in connection with this week’s theme of tinkering, designing, and constructing:

​Nonfiction books

The Daring Book for Girls (Andrea J. Buchanan)

The Dangerous Book for Boys (Conn Igulden)

Make: Easy 1+2+3 Projects (by the editors of Make)

Everything Robotics (Jennifer Swanson, National Geographic)​The Way Things Work Now (David Macauley)

​​During the school year, it often is simply too busy for elaborate cooking and enjoying extended time over a meal with family and friends. That is why I treasure it so much during the holidays. Do you and your family feel the same way? If yes, how about organizing a very special meal together this week? You could put it under a summer reading theme, selecting dishes inspired by children’s books like Patricia Polacco’s Thundercake, the vegetable soup from Grace Lin’s The Ugly Vegetables, the meatballs from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, dumplings from Ying Chang Compestine’s Boy Dumpling, a dessert inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – or any other dish mentioned in a favourite book.

You could make invitations, put a special menu together, write a shopping list of all the ingredients needed, go shopping, then cook and enjoy. The whole family could help and have fun with this. What do you think?

Here are a few special reading suggestions connected to cooking and food, which might inspire you further:

If you aren’t already keeping a summer journal, it isn’t too late… This might be the right time for you as you most probably already enjoyed some great times and might have lots of ideas and memories to record. It doesn’t really matter how you go about it – you could use only words, or words and pictures, comic strips, annotated sketches, photos – whatever works best for you to tell your story and keep those summer memories alive. Make sure to include the wonderful books you are reading as well so that we can share recommendations with each other after the summer.

​If you need some more inspiration, you might like to read some books about journaling and writing:

I made a mistake here when I put the summer program together, thinking the FIFA World Cup in Russia would be over by now, when in fact, we are yet to see the semi-finals and finals. Apologies for that. I do hope you are having fun watching the matches. During the year, I don’t follow league matches anymore, but I love tournaments like the World Cup very much. While we know which countries traditionally have strong teams, you can never predict how the teams will do in such a tournament and there are often big surprises and upsets, making it very exciting. Germany returning home after the first round, bottom of their group, was definitely a big surprise. Congratulations especially to South Korea for their fantastic play against our German team! Seeing Germany leave early didn't stop me from watching other matches and cheering for other teams, and I will definitely continue until the finals are over.

Here are some ideas of what you might like to do this week in connection with our theme of soccer:

Find out 5 fun facts about each of the countries that played in the semi-finals.

There are different names (soccer – football) and different variations (European soccer, American football, Aussie football etc.) of the team sport played with a ball and one’s feet and at times other body parts. Find out more about the different forms and countries they are played in and/or originated from. If you have Internet access, you could search World Book Online.​Organize a friendly soccer match with family members and friends. Maybe you can have a barbeque afterwards together.

As always, see whether you can get some books to read about this week’s theme. Here are a few suggestions:

Recently, I came across the fascinating account of two female journalists – Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland – who in 1889 tried to outdo Jules Verne’s fictional character Phileas Fogg by traveling around the world in under 80 days. Traveling has become so comfortable and fast, that it is easy to forget what the beginnings looked like.

​Here are some ideas of what you might like to do this week in connection with our theme of traveling/transportation:

Pick up an atlas or a globe and put an itinerary together for a journey around the world with start in Hong Kong. What countries would you pass through? What means of transportation would you use?

If you have the opportunity, chat with a grandparent about what traveling and transportation looked like when they were children.

Find out if there is a museum near you about forms of transportation (should you by chance come through Germany, near Stuttgart are two fantastic automobile museums, the Mercedes Benz Museum and the Porsche Museum).

Here are some title suggestions of books around traveling/transportation:

Picture books about traveling/transportation​Are We There Yet?(Alison Lester)Lost in Hong Kong(Matthew Cooper)Two Little Trains(Margret Wise Brown)Everything Goes: On Land / in the Air / by Sea(Brian Biggs)​Locomotive(Brian Floca)

Our library is closed for the long break, so where will you get books to read? In a public library for example! Did you know that Hong Kong alone has over 50 public libraries? I am sure there is a public library near you, no matter where you will be spending your summer. How about asking your parents to take you there for a visit? Tell them you are searching for the Book of Gold ;)

If there is no library near you, how about visiting a bookstore or exploring the book shelves in the homes of family and friends you visit this summer? While there, you could organize your own little treasure hunt by trying to find:A picture book by an author you knowA chapter book by an author you knowA nonfiction book about a topic that interests you

Should you have neither a public library nor a bookshop near you, how about exploring an e-book library online? Remember, no matter where you are in the world, as long as you have internet access, you can make use of our Tumble Book Library subscription.

​Here are a few favorite books of mine about libraries and books, you might like to read this week:

​And in case you are wondering what Ms. Tanja has been up to: this has been my #1 position and activity throughout the past week, sitting on the balcony and reading, reading, reading... Happy summer reading!​

It is the very first week of the summer holidays – hooray! We have eight (teachers seven) weeks ahead of us, and no matter where we are going to be, summer fun and adventures will await us.

​Here are a couple of ideas to get you started with the summer (reading) fun:

Make plans and lists…What do you hope to do this summer? Where do you hope to go? Who are you hoping to see? What are you looking forward to read? What reading plans do you have? Maybe organize a book club with family and/or friends? Write it, sketch it, sing it, dance it… whatever works best for you J

​Start a summer journal / scrapbook…Do you remember the journals I showed you? How about starting one yourself and then filling it with all the special memories you make this summer. Don’t forget to include all the wonderful books you come across.

​Get started with summer reading by exploring some books about summer!

Only a few more days until the break, the summer reading is in sight! Our resources are in place to help you get started in looking for and finding some books you will enjoy to read. You can access all resources through our Summer Reading Padlet below (open it full screen to get a better view).

You can also download the summer reading suggestions and the fun package from here:

Throughout the summer, I will continue to add weekly posts to this blog and also share some of the books I will be reading - you can take a sneak peek of what is currently on my iPad, my loyal travel companion, below. I have a variety of books I am looking forward to read: books for children, for the middle grades, for young adults, for grown ups and a professional title which I am hoping will give me more ideas on how best to support our readers here at HKA. I also have some audiobooks I am keen on listening to - more about this soon. Happy Summer Reading!

Just a couple more days until the long summer break. I can tell that our students are excited, sharing happily with each other about their summer plans. During the past week, I asked some of our students who visit the library in the morning before school, to have their picture taken with a favourite book, a book that could be an idea for others to consider reading this summer. As I mentioned in my blog post last week (if you missed it, click on Reading - All Summer Long), it's great to have a list - I like to call it a summer reading wish list - ready with ideas.

This week, when our students visit the library with their classes, we will think more about and help each other in getting ready for summer reading by sharing ideas. The goal will be to have for each grade a Top 10 Most Memorable Books of 2017-18 ready to be posted on our summer reading Padlet (the Padlet will be posted on this blog next Monday!). I can't wait to see which books our students will include on the list - and look even more forward to hearing their surely lively conversations about this!

Personally, I have also begun adding books to the Kindle App on my iPad, my wonderful travel companion each summer. I find getting ready for summer and summer reading almost as exciting as the summer and the reading itself :) I also have a beautiful new journal ready - a lovely gift from a friend - to record my reading and other summer adventures. Over the past years, my journals have become more and more scrapbooks, filled with books and memories I treasure. I will encourage our students too to consider the idea of keeping track in some form of what they read this summer, as a memory for themselves and new reading ideas for all of us when we return to school in August.

Have you begun thinking about books you might enjoy this summer? I would love to read about your suggestions and ideas in the comment section. Let's help each other with wonderful title suggestions so we can read all summer long.